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Media Invited to Speak to NASA Ames Experts – Celebrating 85 Years


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NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, is celebrating 85 years of cutting-edge research and development in space, life sciences, supercomputing, aeronautics, and more for the benefit of humanity. Ames was founded as an aeronautical laboratory in December 1939, and has since contributed to many of NASA’s flagship missions from Apollo to Artemis. 

NASA Ames experts are available for interviews Thursday, Dec. 19, and Friday, Dec. 20. To request an interview about the center’s legacy in space, science, technology, and aeronautics, email the Ames newsroom at: arc-dl-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.

NASA Ames experts include: 

  • James Anderson, NASA Ames historian;
  • Lynn Harper, lead of integrative studies in the NASA Space Portal, working to propel U.S. industry toward the development of a sustainable, scalable, and profitable non-NASA demand for services and products manufactured in the microgravity environment of low Earth orbit;
  • Shivanjli Sharma, aerospace research engineer, working to enable advanced aviation technologies for new methods of air cargo and passenger transportation in urban, suburban, rural, and regional communities;
  • Dave Alfano, chief of the Ames Intelligent Systems Division, working to produce ground and flight software systems and data architectures for data mining, analysis, integration, and management; integrated health management, and more for missions across the agency.

Ames has established itself as a leader in the aeronautics industry, developing foundational technologies for advanced air vehicles, including air taxis and remotely piloted aircraft. On the International Space Station, Ames researchers have tested a method to develop nutrients off-Earth and on-demand. Cube-shaped robots have been delivered to the station to assist astronauts with routine duties. Ames engineers have developed and are testing a heat shield for the Orion crew capsule that will safely return astronauts home to Earth as part of the agency’s Artemis missions to the Moon.

For more information on Ames’ history and contributions, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/reference/ames-history

-end-

Rachel Hoover
Ames Research Center, Silicon Valley, Calif.
650-604-4789
rachel.l.hoover@nasa.gov

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      Video A (Narrated Visualization): Cosmic Caverns in the Cat’s Paw Nebula
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      Credits: Producers: Greg Bacon (STScI), Frank Summers (STScI); Image Processing: Joe DePasquale (STScI); Music: Joe DePasquale (STScI); Designers: Ralf Crawford (STScI), Leah Hustak (STScI), Christian Nieves (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI); Images: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; ESO/VISTA.
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      Downloads
      Click any image to open a larger version.
      View/Download all image products at all resolutions for this article from the Space Telescope Science Institute.
      Media Contacts
      Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov
      NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
      Abigail Major – amajor@stsci.edu
      Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
      Hannah Braun – hbraun@stsci.edu
      Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
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      Last Updated Jul 09, 2025 Editor Marty McCoy Contact Laura Betz laura.e.betz@nasa.gov Related Terms
      James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Astrophysics Emission Nebulae Goddard Space Flight Center Nebulae Science & Research Star-forming Nebulae Stars The Universe View the full article
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